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Georgia Bulldogs Pull In Top Ten Class On National Signing Day

by Josh Cagliani
02/07/2008

The Bulldog style of recruiting may be boring, but it’s hard to argue with the results after seeing this year’s class.

After getting most of the recruits to verbally commit early, Georgia head coach Mark Richt and his assistants pulled in the No. 6 recruiting class according to Rivals.com. Since 2002, the Bulldogs have finished no worse than 10th in recruiting.

“We’re extremely excited about this class,” recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach Rodney Garner said. “We feel like we’ve signed a class that was able to address all the needs that we set down as a staff and identified right after last year’s signing day.”

As signing day approached, Georgia knew exactly who was coming to play in Athens with the exception of one, Dwayne Allen. Allen, a tight end from North Carolina, verbally committed to Georgia but never seemed sure of his decision. He chose to jump ship on signing day and head to Clemson.

Despite losing Allen, the Bulldogs were still able to sign 24 recruits, including some that will have a chance to compete for playing time in the fall. Of the 24 recruits, wide receiver A.J. Green, a five-star recruit from South Carolina, may be the most promising. In his senior year he caught 72 balls for 1,437 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Green has been rated the No. 2 wide receiver in this year’s class. Check out this one-handed catch by Green at and see why he was rated second.

The Bulldogs are returning all but five starters from a team that went 11-2 and beat Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. The major loss for Georgia comes from the graduation of several of the team’s leaders: Thomas Brown, Sean Bailey, Marcus Howard, Kelin Johnson, Fernando Velasco, Chester Adams and Mikey Henderson.

With the graduation of Bailey, Green may be able to step in and fill the void that has been left. The good news for Georgia is they won’t have to rely on the young players as much as last year.

“We always tell our signees to come in with the mindset of competing,” Richt said. “Let’s get in the best shape you can be. Let’s learn what to do. Let’s start competing.”

The one position that may be on the shoulders, or should I say leg, of a young recruit is kicker. With the graduation of Brandon Coutu, the Bulldogs had to go out and find a suitable replacement for him. They may have done that with a recruit named Blair Walsh.

Walsh, a native of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., will be asked to fill the shoes of one of the best kickers in school history. One thing is for sure, he has the leg strength like Coutu. In his senior year of high school, he kicked not one but two 59 yard field goals.

Going into the fall, Georgia was running short on running backs. That was until they signed two of the most highly-ranked running backs in the country. Richard Samuel, another five-star recruit, and Carlton Thomas will be playing alongside Knowshon Moreno and Caleb King to give the Bulldogs some much needed depth.

Moreno will be the starter after ending last season with the fourth most rushing yards by a freshman in SEC history. Moreno will see the bulk of the carries, but he will split some with King in the same fashion he did with Brown this year.

With the quarterback position firmly in the hands of Matthew Stafford, Georgia had the luxury of not offering any quarterbacks this year. The depth chart looks good with Stafford at quarterback and a very reliable backup in Joe Cox. Logan Gray sits in the waiting behind Stafford and Cox.

This recruiting class provided Georgia with the much needed depth it needed at several key positions such as running back and wide receiver. Expectations will be high in Athens over the next few years. Maybe these recruits will help bring Georgia its first national championship since 1980.

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